“Florida received an F-, the lowest overall grade in our survey,” the report says. “A free market for homeowners insurance does not exist in Florida. Instead, a state-run agency, the Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp., serves as the state’s largest property insurer. Florida’s rate regulatory system is one of price control. Currently, Florida limits all insurance rates to Citizens’ rates plus 15 percent. The state’s burdensome prior-approval process and wholesale government interference with the rate-setting process has led most major insurers to withdraw or cutback policy-writing in the Florida market.”

Most Floridians and many Florida lawmakers have been itching for tighter control over the insurance industry. But the free marketeers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heartland Institute argue that stringent regulation is bad for everyone.

“States with less-regulated insurance markets provide more consumer choice, more predictable rates, and insurance premiums that better reflect actual risk than do states with heavily regulated markets,” the report says.